Are you hitting your business goals? Achieving the plans you set out for yourself?

You are? GREAT! Give yourself a pat on the back!

You haven’t got any goals? That’s ok. It’s never too late to set your goals and there’s no time like the present.

Let’s look at 4 key areas to achieving your goals.

All great achievements begin with a DREAM.Start with the end in mind and work back from there. When you have obtained your dream, what would that look like?

Next we need to set some GOALS, which act like stepping-stones to our dreams. Rarely do we dream of having something then it magically appears. We need to put steps in place to get there. List out some long term, medium tem and short-term goals that all work towards achieving your dream outcome.

Make sure you set SMART goals otherwise how will you know when you’ve got there. SMART stands for: Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic & Timely. Take weight loss as an example.

Specific – Say you want to lose weight. Just saying you want to lose weight isn’t enough, you need to say how much. Measureable – How will you know when you have lost weight? The scales will tell you or your clothes will tell you as well.Achievable – Is your goal achievable? If you weigh 70kg and you want to lose 15kg, that’s probably not achievable!Realistic – Is the goal you are setting yourself realistic? Setting a goal of losing 15kg in 1 week is probably not realistic either.Timely – What time frame do you have on achieving your goal?

Here is an example of a SMART goal.Lose 4kg by the 30th April 2011. I know I will have achieved this goal because the scales will read 66kg instead of 70kg when I weigh myself.

Once you have set your SMART goal, then you have to put in place some plans to help you get there.You could plan to start a dance class or go running 3 times a week. You could change your eating habits so that you only eat chocolate once a week instead of everyday.

Plans can change. The road to your goal is often a winding one, so have your goals in stone and your plans in sand. It’s ok to change your plan as long as the goal remains consistent.

Now to the key part. Nothing is achieved without ACTION! It’s all very well to have dreams, goals and plans but if you don’t DO anything to move towards them then guess what will happen? That’s right, nothing!! That’s not entirely true, something will happen. The same thing that was happening before. But, that’s not moving you towards your goal, is it?

Off you go now and set some goals for your business. It’s not too late.Start with your DREAM. Then write down your GOALS. Work out your PLANS to get there and then take ACTION!!

You will be amazed at the positive changes that will happen in your business!

Simone Outteridge, Outer Edge Business Coaching, is passionate about helping small to medium sized businesses give themselves the edge, get off the treadmill, increase their business performance & find more enjoyment out of life. She is mum to an energetic son, Jake and wife to the gorgeous James, she knows what it takes to juggle family & business life.